Straight Truth Podcast

Discover the importance of grace in marriage through this powerful sermon excerpt by Richard Caldwell. Learn how to create an atmosphere of security and commitment in your marriage, based on the unconditional love of Christ. Let the grace of God guide your partnership and foster spiritual growth. Listen to the full sermon: https://youtu.be/ppcCHxYjQgQ #RichardCaldwell #SpiritualGrowth #Marriage #GraceOfGod #ChristCenteredMarriage #RelationshipGoals #GodlyMarriage #FaithAndMarriage #CommittedToChrist #LoveAndGrace #ChristInTheChurch #SecureInChrist #GodlyLove #SermonExcerpt #ChristianMarriage #UnconditionalLove #FellowSinner #SavedByGrace #ChristInMarriage #MarriageWisdom #SermonClip #MarriageEncouragement #GodlyRelationships #ChristianLiving #ChristianRelationships #FaithInMarriage #BiblicalMarriage #ChristianLove #InspirationalWords #MarriageMatters

In this powerful excerpt from the Straight Truth Podcast, we explore the concept of living as salt and light as believers in Christ. Learn how our everyday actions and decisions can make a significant impact on society and cultural issues from a Christian worldview. Don't miss this inspiring short that reminds us of our true purpose as followers of Christ! #StraightTruthPodcast #ChristianLiving #SaltAndLight #BiblicalTruth #ChristianWorldview #FaithInAction #Influence #CulturalIssues #GodlyLife #Scriptures #ObeyGod #ChristianValues #Christianity #Religion #Spirituality #Vote #Abortion #Transgenderism #Homosexuality #Marriage #Believers #Faith #Gospel #ChristFollower #LiveForChrist #BibleTeaching #Preaching #GodsWord #BibleStudy

In this powerful excerpt from Dr. Richard Caldwell's sermon, he explains how sexual immorality is a flesh-driven perversion of love and idolatry. He reminds us that God's will is always satisfying to the soul and that we should say no to these things and agree with God's Word about what they truly represent. If you're struggling with sexual temptation, this video will provide you with biblical insight and practical advice. #sexualimmorality #idolatry #godlymarriage #fleshdriven #perversionoflove #temptation #biblicalinsight #practicaladvice #agreewithGod #richardcaldwell #foundersbaptistchurch #springtexas #christianity #faith #christianlife #holiness #morality #forgiveness #repentance #grace #salvation #redeemed #hope #encouragement #trust #obedience #love #marriage

As you think about and ponder the things discussed on the podcast today, you might consider listening to the sermons Dr. Caldwell shared from his studies on Matthew 18, along with other sermons he has delivered relating to ecclesiology. Following is the group of sermons from Matthew 18: Children & God's Kingdom: https://youtu.be/GHVSL292C-c Threats to God's Kingdom: https://youtu.be/jtrrA5tHLy0 Caring For God's Children: https://youtu.be/BrK7kXjGhGQ The Correction of God's Children - Part 1: https://youtu.be/vr95gDXKUmA The Correction of God's Children - Part 2: https://youtu.be/tyYWm39i-YU The Correction of God's Children - Part 3: https://youtu.be/0C_vCdW0qHc Forgiving God's Children: https://youtu.be/Gjd67Yxvwm8 The Seriousness of Forgiveness: https://youtu.be/CfGSAiIsCgE

The Sovereignty of God: https://youtu.be/hBYImXogg6A A Christian's View of the Body: https://youtu.be/neadVvR3EeI Fearless Expectations: https://youtu.be/JuhIQiETJUQ Hopeful Grief: https://youtu.be/uGyEd4FMwQs Thinking Our Way Home: https://youtu.be/3P02G6kKkNY Christ's Resurrection & The Believer: https://youtu.be/jgTY3x_o6fc How should Christians handle end-of-life decisions? Are there principles that should guide Christians in making end-of-life decisions? Will the principles be the same for all end-of-life situations? How can we know what is best? Making decisions for someone we love when they aren't able can be arduous. Making decisions for/about someone else's health and well-being is often clouded with emotions and can be intensely painful. So when someone finds that they need to make an end-of-life decision for a loved one, the weightiness of that decision can be more than any of us want to bear. But these things are inevitable, and without a living will or a durable power of attorney for health care that expresses our loved ones wishes, we need to make the best possible informed decision or decisions that we can. So how should Christians approach these kinds of decisions? Is it ever appropriate to withdraw medical treatment from someone so that they can pass away? Or, do we have a responsibility, knowing the sacredness of life, to try to preserve it at all costs? Join Dr. Josh Philpot and Dr. Richard Caldwell for this episode of the Straight Truth podcast as they seek to encourage us with biblical wisdom and guidance in the answers to this subject. Dr. Caldwell wants us to first know that God is sovereign and to understand that there is nothing He is not sovereign over. Knowing God is sovereign over all things is a comforting doctrine. God’s Word tells us that all our days were written down before we lived even one of them. There is a day for our birth and a day for our death, and both of them were determined by God before we ever lived. As we think about this, it will help us to remember that life and death are never in our hands, nor the doctor’s hands. To live or to die is in the hands of God. We don’t have to feel guilty as if we are in control of our loved ones living and dying because we aren’t; God is. Until Jesus comes again, we all have a day to die. For the believer, it’s a portal into the presence of God, a day of great rejoicing. For the unbeliever, it’s a tragic day. Secondly, Dr. Caldwell mentions we live in an era that God has placed us in, which most of humanity never experienced. Because of the advances made in medical technology, we sometimes face decisions that past generations wouldn’t have even faced. If we have a loved one on medical equipment that's sustaining their life, we can choose to have those unplugged. We don’t have to feel guilty if we make a choice to turn a person over to the natural processes. A third thought Dr. Caldwell shares is that because of advancements in modern medicine, there are times that it may present the possibility for life to go on. So if there is hope for intervention that might bring recovery and extend our loved ones life, we don’t need to feel guilty about wanting to wait to remove those life-supporting systems. It’s not wrong for us to want to wait and see if there is a way that they might recover. We don’t have to feel guilty about this. So while it is possible that our loved one might perish without the life-sustaining medical equipment and intervention, at the same time, it is possible that they might not. God may sustain them to full recovery, but He might not. We do not have to feel guilty about considering both options. We should listen to the doctors and get good medical advice, all while keeping the truths of God’s Word in our minds. God knows our hearts, and we can make these decisions either way and rest in His good and perfect care. Keeping these three things in mind will help us make the best wisdom-informed decisions that we are able. Dr. Caldwell says he believes that this makes these decisions less intense. He also says that it is good if people can make their intentions and wishes known in advance before loved ones have to face these decisions. Those ways of making these things known are helpful because, then, we don’t have to feel guilty about honoring our loved one's wishes. He wishes there was a hard and fast rule for each situation, but there isn't. So we need the Spirit of God, and we also need good sound judgment. All of our days are in the hands of our God. We cannot add a single hour to our lives or the lives of our loved ones. Our responsibility is to provide the best loving care we can, make wise, informed decisions as we go along, and trust God, our Creator, and Sustainer, for the time He has determined when a life shall end. Following are sermons to listen to that will help us as we think about life and death.

Following are sermons by Dr. Caldwell that will assist in further thinking through how to love our enemies: Righteousness & Retribution: https://youtu.be/BNQT9UJtrt8 Loving By God's Standard: https://youtu.be/VgZXfiNCm8U Hearing Jesus About Our Enemies - Part 1: https://youtu.be/p_DzOjuIXko Hearing Jesus About Our Enemies - Part 2: https://youtu.be/bxLIArJDygM Judgment That is Not Judgmental: https://youtu.be/Aelhsyyb1uI A Godly Reading of the Golden Rule: https://youtu.be/JL3AP1Z9PEs Faiths Grand Narrative: https://youtu.be/FNE0-7AiQVc The Logic For Love of Enemies: https://youtu.be/ohacyojikos Who Wants Life - Part 2: https://youtu.be/ujKvWl0WDS8 Who Wants Life?- Part 3: https://youtu.be/uTDbFvUKXjY Glorious Ministry: https://youtu.be/YolYUlIM0Aw As Christians, we know that in the New Testament, Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, pray for them, and do good to them. But we also know that there are passages in the Old Testament, like some of the imprecatory Psalms, that seem to speak differently about this. We read of David, in Psalm 139, of hating those who hate God, hating them with a complete hatred, and counting them as his own enemy. Can both of these ways be right? Is it possible to hate our enemies and love them at the same time? Aren’t we supposed to love the sinner and hate the sin? How can we determine who is rightly an enemy? These questions are discussed and answered in this episode of the Straight Truth Podcast. Join us as Dr. Josh Philpot presents these questions to Dr. Richard Caldwell, seeking answers to help us think through the challenges of knowing who our enemies are and what our responses toward them should be. Dr. Caldwell says that, of course, both of these truths of the Scriptures are right. He mentions there are two things we need to keep in mind when we think about this. First, is what is being perpetrated against me versus what is being perpetrated against God. So I can hate what’s being done to our God, His name, His honor, His truth, His people, and His church, yet love the person who attacks me. Two, we can hold to both as it pertains to personal offenses. In the same heart and mind, we can hate what the person is doing and who they are by the virtue of sin and yet love them and desire their conversion. So as we think about these people and come into contact with them, we know who they are right now. They are sinners in need of God's saving grace. We know what they deserve as a result of who they are. We know where they're headed and what they most certainly will meet with if they continue on this path. Yet still, even though this is where they are right now, and whether their attacks are against God or us personally, we are to love them by not returning evil for evil, by praying for their conversion, and by seeking to do good for them if given the opportunity. Their greatest need is Christ. We also need to remember that we were all once the enemies of God by nature before He saved us. Those that are outside of the Church are still His enemies. So at any given time, when we see some sort of persecution upon the Lord’s people it is an attack on Lord’s Church. There are places where believers are dying for their faith. While it's not an attack on us personally, in a sense, it is because they're our brother or sister; they’re part of the family of God. The Lord Jesus Christ mentions this to Saul as a personal attack upon Himself as Saul, soon to be Paul, is persecuting church members in Acts 9. It’s an attack on Christ; in that sense, it’s an attack on all of us. Other areas of attacks might be very personal, extending to a business relationship or family relationship where someone is mistreating us on a personal level. In these and other ways, there is also a kind of enemy. We are to think of them in two categories. There is what they are that we should hate, and there is, at the same time, a responsibility to love them with the love of Christ. We are to show people, even if they are our enemies, that we love them and pray for them, even as they would spitefully use us on purpose. Dr. Caldwell reminds us that many different categories could be discussed in a conversation like this. Some of them would lead to discussions on things like Christian pacifism. Christian pacifism would say that if someone breaks into my home to harm my family, loving my enemy means I don’t withstand them. Basically, it means I don’t protect my family. Within this same framework of understanding, others would say that Christians can’t serve their nation as soldiers during wartime. Dr. Caldwell shares that he believes these are misapplications of the passages that teach us to love our enemies and exhorts us to be very careful with categories as we apply these truths.

This is an excerpt from "Forgiving God’s Children" a sermon by Dr. Richard Caldwell, based on Matthew 18:21-35. You can listen to the full sermon on our YouTube channel. https://youtu.be/Gjd67Yxvwm8 #OutstandingGrace #ForgivingGodsChildren #SermonExcerpt #DrRichardCaldwell #Matthew18352135 #ReformedTheology #BiblicalTeaching #ChristianLiving #AmazingGrace #GraceUponGrace #Mercy #Forgiveness #Redemption #Sovereignty #BibleStudy #Gospel #Christianity #Faith #Hope #Love #GodsGrace #JesusChrist #HolySpirit #FoundersBaptistChurch #Missions #Theology #Apologetics #ChristianWorldview

This is an excerpt from the latest episode of the Straight Truth Podcast, "Should I Reveal that I had an Abortion?" with Dr. Richard Caldwell. You can listen to the full episode on our YouTube channel. Link on our profile description. #reformedtheology #guilt #repentance #forgiveness #sin #grace #mercy #salvation #redemption #gospel #faith #christianity #podcast #christianpodcast #biblicaltruth #godslove #gospeltruth #truthseeker #jesus #biblestudy #bibletruth #spiritualgrowth #hope #encouragement #healing #selfforgiveness #selfacceptance #selfcompassion #innerpeace

If you would like to learn more about these things, consider listening to the following sermons by Dr. Caldwell: The Gospel as Preservative: https://youtu.be/4VXDmzWWOro Preaching the Gospel to Christians: https://youtu.be/I2Xs82FCbKI Not Ashamed: https://youtu.be/fJxVkyIRq8M What the Gospel Reveals: https://youtu.be/vdE99xin_lA The Nature of Abraham's Faith: https://youtu.be/IYWAcTnLW8U No Condemnation: https://youtu.be/ZpCYqoRb1X8 The Ugliness of Sin & The Beauty of Grace: https://youtu.be/sSWt-f6KM8Y The Only Hope for the Guilt Soul: https://youtu.be/-MA3McX0NWA Confessing Our Sin: https://youtu.be/OvrRKfhXnPE The Joy of Forgiveness: https://youtu.be/BFxcIp1OtWA Reasoning Our Way to Repentance - Part 1: https://youtu.be/oG_aFVK2ufI Reasoning Our Way to Repentance - Part 2: https://youtu.be/zANidX1_Fno Distinction and No Distinction: https://youtu.be/O3Iy7DTethc This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, we will be dealing with a very personal question from a young mother. Dr. Philpot shares that a young woman writes in sharing that she is married with three children. She recently became pregnant with a fourth. Out of shock and fear, feeling that she couldn't handle another child, she did not tell her husband and then went and had an abortion. She now recognizes what she has done as a terrible and wrong decision. She sought counseling from others, but it hasn’t brought the peace of mind she hoped for. She still hasn’t told her husband and writes now to ask for Dr. Caldwell's counsel and advice. Dr. Caldwell has been a pastor for over thirty years and has counseled many with biblical wisdom. What counsel and advice can Dr. Caldwell offer that might bring the peace of mind she longs for? Dr. Caldwell shares first that he would start with the gospel. What he means by this is, does this young woman truly know Christ? Dr. Caldwell is not saying that genuine believers can't make disastrous decisions. What he is asking is, was this disastrous decision a manifestation of failure where there is genuine faith, or was that decision a manifestation of the absence of faith. Does a believer's reaction to a pregnancy, obviously, it shouldn’t but can it, include ‘I’m going to the abortion clinic, and I’m going to have an abortion.'? So it’s a good and important question to ask. Do you really know Christ? Lots of people deal with God in a generic fashion. Their knowledge of God is generic. Therefore their knowledge of salvation and forgiveness is misinformed and generic. People can say they have asked God for forgiveness, but they don't understand that in the biblical terms of the gospel. Those terms are that Christ died for sinners, paying for all the sins we will ever commit in full at the cross. The eternal Son of God took upon Himself an additional nature, a real human nature, so that He, as the Son of Man, died on the cross for sinners, has been raised from the dead, lives forever more, ascended to heaven, is coming again and intercedes on behalf of those who have trusted in Him. Forgiveness for sins for all sins, including this one, is found in trusting in Christ and Christ alone. There is no forgiveness apart from the shed blood of Christ. So this is the place we would need to begin. Do you really know Jesus because there is no forgiveness, no matter how guilty you feel or how many prayers you might offer if you haven’t trusted in Christ? Assuming this woman is a genuine believer and has made an illy, rash disastrous choice, what now would Dr. Caldwell advise? He would say you need to know there is no relief from guilt without genuine repentance. You need to bring this sin fully into the light. It must be seen for what it was, you must call it what it was, and it is. It is murder. While you didn’t perform the procedure yourself, you sought it out and allowed it; you are responsible. So to have the freedom from guilt, you must see your sin for what it is and confess it for what it is. You must come before God and deal with this honestly, confessing this sin for what it is, then acknowledge that in Christ Jesus there is forgiveness of that sin and accept the forgiveness of Christ, that is real, full, and free. As far as telling your husband, Dr. Caldwell says he would need to ask more questions before advising you to move forward immediately. However, he says that if your husband loves you and he loves the Lord, then you need to trust the Lord and tell him. He says, then he would say, with all these sorts of things, that together you need to go and see your pastor. This is assuming you are members of a local church and, hopefully, it's a healthy local church. Dr. Caldwell asserts that this is where you should be shepherded, not by him via the internet. He advises that you go and see your pastor and let him shepherd you through this phase of your life.

This is an excerpt from a pastoral question and answer session with Dr. Richard Caldwell. You can listen to the full session on our YouTube channel. Link on our profile description. #forgiveness #love #faith #peace #god #grace #pray #spirituality #soul #spiritual #jesus #amen #prayers #religion #faithful #prayer #praying #reformedtheology #solideogloria #solascriptura #solafide #salvation #sanctification #biblestudy #christianpodcast #reformedpodcast #podcastrecommendation #christianeducation #biblicaltruth

This is an excerpt from the latest episode of the Straight Truth Podcast, "Salvation and Sanctification in the Old and New Testaments" with Dr. Richard Caldwell. You can listen to the full episode. Link on our profile description. #reformedtheology #solideogloria #solascriptura #solafide #salvation #sanctification #biblestudy #christianpodcast #reformedpodcast #podcastrecommendation #christianeducation #biblicaltruth #christianfaith #jesuslovesyou #gospel #faithandwork #prayer #spiritualgrowth #christianliving #discipleship #biblicalwisdom #christianinspiration #grace #faithful #christiancommunity #theology #christianity #jesusisLord #podcasting

Would you like to learn more about the Holy Spirit, about His work in regeneration, salvation, and sanctification in God’s people? Consider listening to the following sermons exposited by Dr. Caldwell from the Word of God: The Unbelief of The Sinner: Another Helper - Part 1: https://youtu.be/Ihqjn13Q_Oc Another Helper - Part 2: https://youtu.be/o8guIwYkA-U The Holy Spirit - Part 1: https://youtu.be/oc1KmArRoJg The Holy Spirit - Part 2: https://youtu.be/RupM3s5aakc Because He Has Come - Part 1: https://youtu.be/HPJjQN_k6qk Because He Has Come - Part 2: https://youtu.be/bOlbKF_Ob6Y Our Teacher: https://youtu.be/TDo6j-Lzzio Something New: https://youtu.be/uXwkOrCmJ94 Something Better: https://youtu.be/qmtIfuhRWz0 A Faithful Shepherd - Part 2: https://youtu.be/m2F45HQ1sKg The Baptism in The Holy Spirit - Part 1: https://youtu.be/QWfa592i7nw The Baptism in The Holy Spirit - Part 2: https://youtu.be/F84rSzwlD2M The Holy Spirit as God's Seal & Pledge - Part 1: https://youtu.be/1hSs5rAEtcI The Holy Spirit as God's Seal & Pledge - Part 2: https://youtu.be/YGGegdkUIb0 The New Testament teaches the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit of all believers. But in the Old Testament, this wasn’t the case; it was different. How can we understand the work of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament? That work appears to have been selective and temporary. For example, we read King David praying to God in Psalm 51 to not take ‘Your Holy Spirit from me.’ Whereas New Testament believers, permanently indwelled by the Holy Spirit, are being transformed into the image of Christ, from one degree of glory to another through the work of sanctification. So then, if the Holy Spirit did not permanently indwell Old Testament believers, and just sort of, came and went, how were they sanctified? This is the topic for this episode of the Straight Truth Podcast. Join us as host Dr. Josh Philpot asks Dr. Richard Caldwell to share his thoughts and understanding of the work of the Holy Spirit in saving and sanctifying believers in both eras, old and new. Dr. Caldwell says this is a great opportunity to think about continuity and discontinuity. Continuity is that, which remains the same, and discontinuity is that which is different. So what is the same and what is different? As Dr. Philpot mentioned, the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit is new, so something different has taken place. But, if we understand and believe what the Bible teaches about all mankind since the fall, we have to know that no one has ever been saved in all of history apart from regeneration. Man does not and cannot save himself. He is blind, and he is dead. Man does not love God nor the things of God and has no desire to live for God. God must do a work in a man's soul for this to change; it requires the grace of God at work in the soul that brings new life. This is regeneration and is the work of the Holy Spirit in a person's heart for salvation. This has not and does not change from the old to the new. So, in the same way, to think that anyone can live a godly life without the help of the Holy Spirit, Old or New Testament, would be erroneous. The Holy Spirit is He who works to give the eyes of faith to believe God, His Word, and His promises, to love the Scriptures, and the desire to obey Him. Dr. Caldwell shares about Jesus coming to Nicodemus in John 3, where Jesus talks about the new birth. Nicodemus is reproved for not knowing and understanding the things Jesus speaks about with him. Nicodemus was a teacher in Israel and had the Old Testament. He should have understood the need for the new birth, even in the Old Testament. If new birth was required in the Old Testament, so also was sanctification and growing in godliness. But what’s new then? What’s new is that we have the Messiah; we have Christ. The Old Testament progressively continued to point to the coming of Christ, but He hadn’t yet come. In the New Testament, we have Christ come. Now we have met with Emmanuel, God with us, God incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ. In this same discussion with Nicodemus, we begin learning it's through Christ that love takes on a new character. Dr. Caldwell shares what this means and looks like in the life of believers. Before Christ was to return to heaven, He promised the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is the one who baptizes us with the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is given to those who have trusted in Christ. This is a post-resurrection, a post-ascension reality that every believer is now permanently indwelled by the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God is our comforter. He is Christ in us. He is the seal and down payment that God has given to us, His people, regarding our future inheritance. He works in us for our sanctification, for the holiness without which no man will see the Lord. His indwelling confirms the fact that we are headed toward a future that God has promised, one we will most certainly have. These are all new realities.

This is an excerpt from the latest episode of the Straight Truth Podcast, "How To Mortify Sins" with Dr. Richard Caldwell. You can listen to the full episode on our YouTube channel. Link on our profile description. #reformedtheology #reformed #theology #solideogloria #solascriptura #solafide #sin #god #bible #jesus #love #jesuschrist #sinner #faith #christ #salvation #church #christian #truth #grace #repentance #repent #prayer #pray #christianity #sins #christian #jesus #bible #god #faith #jesuschrist #love #christianity #church #christ #bibleverse #prayer #gospel #godisgood #holyspirit #pray #worship #blessed #hope #truth #scripture #biblestudy #amen #believe #grace #jesuslovesyou #jesussaves #peace #inspiration

Consider listening to the following sermons by Dr. Richard Caldwell that will encourage us in our walk with Christ to do these very things: The Certainty of New Life: https://youtu.be/MYtsqScLp40 The Application of Doctrine: https://youtu.be/qzlEXcFYz4k Salvation's New Abilities: https://youtu.be/4R9csD924OQ Why Grace Meets Objections: https://youtu.be/upikWrIJg-A The Answer for Grace Abuse: https://youtu.be/nlhfU0K6Yic Our Death With Jesus: https://youtu.be/22CGqTJCaUE No Chance to Repent: https://youtu.be/neBZXGiDLP8 Worship and the Mortification of Sin: https://youtu.be/a8WQOH1SEGs The Believing Life: https://youtu.be/uozvF_3kp5E Living in Hostile Territory - Part 1: https://youtu.be/_DEvgp3PK5g The War Within: https://youtu.be/Yt3y7bpSrOQ The Sin of Adultery: https://youtu.be/v75oRsellvY The Children of God in this World: https://youtu.be/dftJQvDWTqI Threats to God's Children: https://youtu.be/jtrrA5tHLy0 If sin remains with/in us until glorification, how do we mortify them? If mortifying sin means killing it, how do we actually do that? If we kill our sin, why does it remain, and why do we go on in sin? This week on the Straight Truth Podcast, Dr. Richard Caldwell and Dr. Josh Philpot discuss the mortification of sin. What does it mean to kill it? What does it look like to kill sin? And if we are taking the steps necessary to kill sin in our lives, why does it not go away? These are questions we need answers to if we are to grow and progress in the Christian life. Without understanding our sin and dealing with it ongoingly, we can stifle our sanctification process, bringing dishonor and shame to our Lord who bought us. In Christ, we are new creatures. Daily we must put off sin and put on Christ. Listen in as Dr. Caldwell opens the Word of God and helps us to understand this process of mortifying our sins. Dr. Caldwell affirms that on this side of glorification, we will not be perfected, and sins will reappear. Mortification means that we have to go on putting those sins to death. Putting them to death means that we deal with all our sin issues in light of our real death to sin and in light of our real new life in Jesus Christ. We must deal with sin in accordance with the truth as it is in Jesus. Dr. Caldwell shares Romans 6:5-11. He tells us that it teaches us that we know a real freedom right now with respect to sin because of what Jesus has done for us. Jesus came into the world to die on behalf of our sins. He has accomplished that. It is finished. It is done. There is something about Jesus' death to sin that informs the believers' death to sin. Before Christ, we were enslaved to sin, but now united to Christ, we can choose to say no to sin and yes to Christ. So mortifying sin is to regard ourselves as dead to that sin. Moment by moment, choice by choice, decision by decision is how we put sin to death. When a believer gives themselves to sin, they are living as if they are still a slave, as if they are still in Adam. But, if we are in Christ, we do not have to give in to sin. Instead in that very moment, we put it to death by saying no to it and saying yes to Jesus Christ. Putting to death sin will be a continual process that believers must engage in daily because killing sin does not happen all at once. So, we must battle to slay our sin, doing so with the sword of the Spirit, with the belt of truth, through the power of the Spirit. We won’t do this perfectly, and there will be times when we trip and stumble. So what do we do when we stumble? We repent, we get up, and we walk again. We don’t use it as an excuse to go on in sin. Dr. Caldwell explains that Romans 6 also addresses this. As believers, we want to serve Christ and live righteous lives, and we've been given the capacity to do that. This is a pattern for those who have new life in Christ. Those made new by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit will live new lives. Anything less is a contradiction of who we are in Christ. So if we are going to mortify sin, we cannot give it oxygen. We cannot give it room to live and breathe. We must subdue sin by refusing it, by starving and rejecting it. Our Lord said that if our hand causes us to sin, cut it off. He said if our eye causes us to sin, pluck it out. It should be obvious that He is speaking metaphorically. He is not saying for us to literally cut off our hands or pluck out our eyes. He is using radical terminology to help us understand the seriousness of sin. We want to take radical action to do whatever is necessary to overcome sin and put it to death. We must recognize the presence of sin in our lives to kill it. To recognize sin as sin, we must know the Word of God. We must saturate ourselves with His Word cultivating hearts that desire to obey God as we understand and take sin seriously.